Word.ws English Dictionary

athirst

UK/əˈθɜːst/

athirst adjective: thirsty.

Adjective

athirst (comparative more athirst, superlative most athirst)

  1. (archaic) Thirsty.
    • I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 21:6
    • To this extenuated spectre, perhaps, a crumb is not thrown once a year; but when ahungered and athirst to famine—when all humanity has forgotten the dying tenant of a decaying house—Divine Mercy remembers the mourner, […]1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Old Maids”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume I, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 264
  2. (figuratively) Eager or extremely desirous (for something).
    • I, that forever feel athirst for glory,
      Could at this moment be content to lie
      Meekly upon the grass, as those whose sobbings
      Were heard of none beside the mournful robins.1817, John Keats, Sonnet (Written on a blank space at the end of Chaucer’s tale of ‘The Floure And The Leafe’
    • O sleepless heart and sombre soul unsleeping,
      That were athirst for sleep and no more life
      And no more love, for peace and no more strife!1878, Algernon Charles Swinburne, “Ave Atque Vale (In Memory of Charles Baudelaire)”, in Poems and Ballads, Second Series, Stanza IV

athirst meaning in Tamil

athirst in Tamil

நீர் வேட்கையுடைய, ஆர்வமுள்ள

Forms of athirst

comparativemore athirst
superlativemost athirst

Origin of athirst

Inherited from Middle English athirst, from Old English ofþyrst, past participle of ofþyrstan (“to smart from thirst”), equivalent to a- (“of”, Etymology 8) + thirst (verb).

Words formed from athirst

Words that rhyme with athirst

9 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about athirst

What does athirst mean?
Athirst means thirsty.
What is athirst in Tamil?
Athirst in Tamil is நீர் வேட்கையுடைய, ஆர்வமுள்ள. See Athirst meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is athirst?
Athirst is an adjective.
How do you pronounce athirst?
Athirst is pronounced /əˈθɜːst/ (UK).

Words near athirst in the dictionary

  1. Athihuttaa
  2. Athina
  3. Athinganoi
  4. Athinganos
  5. Athirne
  6. athirst
  7. athleisure
  8. athleisurewear
  9. athlete
  10. athlete's foot
  11. athlete's girdle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: athirst (page history and authors); athirst (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “athirst.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/athirst. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.